Virginia Finishes 13th In Directors' Cup Rankings

Official Release
Virginia Athletic Media Relations

Virginia finished 13th in the final 2006-07 U.S. Sports Academy Directors' Cup competition for Division I schools. It marks the 14th consecutive year, since the program's inception, the Cavaliers have recorded a top 30 finish.

UVa is one of 15 schools to rank in the top 30 of the final Directors' Cup standings in each of the 14 years of the program's existence.

Virginia's 13th place finish ties for the second highest ranking by the UVa athletics program in the Directors' Cup competition. Virginia finished eighth in 1999, and finished 13th in 2005, 2000 and 1998. UVa finished 26th in last year's Directors' Cup competition.

Teams or individuals in 21 of Virginia's 25 sports advanced to postseason competition in 2006-07, including 20 in NCAA championship events. UVa's athletics year was highlighted by second place finishes by the women's lacrosse and women's rowing teams in NCAA Championships, while the men's soccer and men's tennis teams both reached the NCAA semifinals. In addition, the Cavaliers' Somdev Devvarman became the first men's tennis player from the Atlantic Coast Conference to win the NCAA singles championship and the women's rowing team's varsity four won the NCAA Championship in that event for the third time in the last four years.

UVa was the top Division I program in the state of Virginia in the Directors' Cup standings with 945 points and one of four ACC schools to finish in the top 15. North Carolina finished third with 1,161.33 points, while Duke was 11th (988.25) and Florida State 15th (924.25). Wake Forest finished 23rd (708.50).

To read the full release, check out Virginiasports.com.

This Week In Recruiting
By Chris Horne

Football recruiting ...

Last week was another good week as far as football recruiting is concerned, as UVa came away with two verbal commitments.

The commitment from 6-7, 290-pound offensive lineman/defensive lineman Corey Lewis was expected. The East Stroudsburg (Stroudsburg, PA) star visited Virginia the previous week with his father and made no secret of his desire to commit to the Cavs. He had initially wanted to make a return visit to Charlottesville this past week with his mother, but did not. He decided to go ahead and commit anyway, putting Virginia's commitment number at 10.

Lewis is an athletic offensive line recruit who has excellent speed for his size. In a combine earlier this spring, he ran a 4.9 in the 40-yard dash. He also plays basketball. Lewis is being recruited initially as an offensive tackle, but offensive guard or defensive line are possibilities as well.

Lewis, who attended Christchurch School his first two years of high school, is great friends with incoming freshman linebacker J'Courtney Williams, who also attended Christchurch. He plans to recruit another friend, Christchurch rising senior wide receiver Deion Walker, for the Cavs. Though Lewis' decision certainly does not guarantee anything for UVa with respect to the 6-3, 180-pound Walker, it certainly does not hurt.

Virginia's 11th verbal commitment came late Thursday night, when 6-4, 185-pound punter Matt Zubyk pledged to the Hoos. Zubyk is a talented punter out of Francis Parker High School in San Diego, California. He had received a scholarship offer from Virginia a few weeks prior to last week's camp. He visited for the camp and had a terrific experience, pledging to the Hoos just a day after returning home.

Zubyk chose Virginia over offers from Air Force and Navy and interest from Northwestern and Stanford. As a junior last season, he averaged 44.4 yards per punt on 25 tries.

In other news, top linebacker Shayne Hale reportedly narrowed his list of schools to four - Michigan, Ohio State, Virginia, and West Virginia. The 6-3, 220-pound Gateway (Monroeville, PA) star, one of the top linebacker recruits in the country, confirmed his finalists last night to TheSabre.com. We hope to catch up with Hale later today for a complete interview with a full article coming as soon as possible.

This news is certainly great news for the Hoos. Virginia is considered one of the teams to beat for 5-7, 155-pound KR/PR/WR Cameron Saddler, who is one of Hale's teammates. The two have expressed an interest in attending the same school. Three of Hale's four finalists (with the exception of Ohio State) are part of Saddler's final 10 list.

Hale, an AAAA all-state performer his junior season, racked up 105 tackles including 13 tackles-for-loss and five sacks on the year.

Virginia landed a few commitments but lost out on several other prospects. Lee County (Sanford, N.C.) RB Jay Hollingsworth committed to Duke last Tuesday. He attended Virginia's summer camp, but did not receive significant attention from the staff. With Virginia's recent run of commitments, including a commitment from RB Torrey Mack out of Connecticut, Hollingsworth did not appear to be high on the target list.

QB Mike Glennon (N.C. State), QB Andrew Luck (Stanford), and DB/LB Marcus Dowtin (Georgia) were other decisions that went against the Hoos.

Virginia has 11 commitments in the fold. Look for the final number of recruits in this class to be around 18 to 20. Stay tuned later this week for the Recruiting Roundtable, a look at Virginia's class up to this point and where the staff may go with its remaining scholarships.

Basketball recruiting ...

Look for more updates on the basketball recruiting front this week, including an update on 6-7, 270-pound South Kent (CT) PF/C Christian Morris. Morris attended the NBPA Top 100 camp in June. He was not able to take a tour around the grounds, but Virginia remains high on his list of schools. He is mainly considering three schools, though he is open to others as well.

Also, basketball recruiting fans should check out the recruiting cards of star rising seniors Elliot Williams (G), John Brandenburg (C), Sylven Landesberg (G), and Morris for exclusive pictures from the NBPA Top 100 Camp. These player photos are for EDGE subscribers only.

Chris Horne, our resident recruiting expert, provides updates throughout the week for Edge subscribers about UVa's commitments and recruiting targets in football and men's basketball. To sign up for an Edge subscription, please check out the Sabre Edge Sign Up and Information Page. If you're already on board as an Edge subscriber, click the links below to catch up on recruiting.

Sabre Edge recruiting updates from the past week ...

Cavs Reel in Star Punter
In the 2005 class, UVa's coaching staff trekked out to California to sign punter Ryan Weigand. Three classes later, the staff is at it again as Coach Al Groh and company received a commitment last night from 6-4, 185-pound punter prospect Matt Zubyk. The Francis Parker (San Diego, CA) star chose the Hoos over offers from Air Force and Navy and interest from Northwestern and Stanford.

Ruff Leaning Towards Official Visits
Norview (Norfolk, VA) defensive line recruit Klinton "Buddy" Ruff made another trip to the University of Virginia, returning earlier this week along with his team for summer camp. The 6-4, 290-pound Ruff, who has visited UVa numerous times before, enjoyed his most recent experience in Charlottesville.

Lewis Commits!
6-7, 290-pound OL/DL Corey Lewis has wanted to commit to the University of Virginia since being offered by the Cavs at the beginning of June. He has made several unofficial visits to Charlottesville this month, each one bringing him closer to a commitment. Today, he went ahead and committed to head coach Al Groh.

UVa Camp Impresses Mattes
Robinson (Concord, N.C.) offensive tackle R.J. Mattes attended Virginia's Big Man Camp last Saturday, giving him an opportunity to learn from Virginia offensive line coach Dave Borbely. The experience was a success for Mattes as well as the Virginia program, which is heavily recruiting the 6-7, 275-pound prospect.

More updates since the last SabreMail ...

• Ellis Makes Another Trip to UVa
• UVa Targets More Friendly Standouts
• Hamlette Closing in on Decision?
• The Latest on Mike Glennon
• Saddler May Not Make Summer Decision

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Pittsburgh (Official) Panther Lair Panther Digest

With football season approaching fast, many Virginia fans might be interested in what the Cavaliers' opponents are up to this summer. Well, the Sabre has saved you some research time. Much like the Pittsburgh example seen here (the Panthers wrap up September for UVa), all of the Web sites for the football and basketball teams' opponents have been linked in our Other Sites section. That makes it easy to check up on UVa's opponents before the opening kickoff!

License Plate section is up in Wahoowa!

A few weeks ago, SabreMail made a request for anyone who had license plates that reflected your status as a Hoo fan. The responses have started to trickle in and the Plates Photos are up and running the Wahoowa! section of the site. The Wahoowa! section of the Sabre is dedicated to all things associated with UVa Fan-dom. There are various fan-related areas including desktop wallpaper, Fan of the Week photos, V-Sabres Worldwide, and more. If you have suggestions for new and interesting things in the Wahoowa! section, please email us at [email protected] with the header: Wahoowa! suggestion.

We'd like to keep adding photos to the section so if your license plate shows that you're a Hoo fan, let us know so we can include you in our gallery. All you need to do is snap a picture of your license plate and email a jpeg version of the photo to [email protected] with the email header: License Plate Photo.

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Around the World of Wahoo Sports ...

• Virginia Track and Field/Cross Country - A Year In Review: Starting with a pair of top 15 finishes in cross country at the NCAA Championships, the Virginia track & field program had a solid showing in 2006-07.
• Stevens Named to VaSID All-State Team: Cavalier women's tennis player Jennifer Stevens received 2007 University Division All-State honors from the Virginia Sports Information Directors (VaSID). The Cavalier first year was named to the All-State second team.

To read the full stories or gather more information on Virginia athletics, check out Virginiasports.com.

Football Fan T-Shirt
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Issue No. 21 - January 24, 2002

Ron Darden commits to the Hoos

Virginia received a timely commitment this week from Glen Burnie (MD) offensive lineman Ron Darden. Darden's commitment came shortly after his official visit to UVa last weekend. The news helped offset the recent decommitment from UVa by OL Randy Hand from Estero, Florida.

Darden was relatively unknown before the season began, and Rivals100.com had him listed as just a two-star recruit with no ranking at his position.

"He's only been playing football for about two years," Glen Burnie Head Football Coach Brad Wilson said. "He's 6-4, 320, and runs a 5.2 forty. He just turned 17. He's not a fat or sloppy 320, he's built like a man. He benches 370, power cleans 275, dead lifts 765 and squats 420."

Darden made great strides over the past season and improved so much that he was invited to participate in the U.S. Army All-American game in San Antonio, Texas along with fellow UVa recruits Ahmad Brooks, Kai Parham, Kwakou Robinson and Maurice Stovall. Schools started to take notice of Darden during his summer workouts in Maryland, but not many top schools got a close look at him in time to make a move.

"We have a junior combine here in Maryland every spring," Coach Wilson said. "When I sent all of my juniors there, the guy that stood out, mainly because of his size, was Ron. Then, when he ran the forty - for someone that big to run the time that he did, was pretty impressive. He went to a Maryland summer camp and did well, and they offered him right there."

While Darden has played only two years of high school football, he has improved greatly and become a versatile player, especially for his size.

"He played both ways for us," Coach Wilson added. "At this point in his football career, I believe he is a better offensive lineman. We played him at offensive guard. We run the shotgun 90 percent of the time. He pulls and traps. Two years ago, before he started playing football, he was quiet and to himself. I guess that was because of his size. Over the last couple of years, he's become more of a vocal person - a little more outgoing - he's showed some leadership qualities. Those things have just gotten better over the last couple of years. He has excellent feet for a big guy. That's one of the first things that colleges coaches have noticed when they've watched him on film."

Coming Soon

The Sabre has you covered when it comes to Hoo news. Here are a few of the articles to expect on the site in the coming days:

• Versatility Reigns With Singletary's Return Sean Singletary decided to return to UVa for his senior season last week. That choice gives Virginia a ton of options heading into next season. The Sabre looks at the Cavs' versatility.
  
• JHoo's Summer Reading JHoo's summer reading series continued with a look at the running backs and wide receivers. Next up: tight ends and the offensive line.
  
• Ranking UVa's Programs For 2006-07 Vandy-Hoo ranks the various Cavalier programs for the 2006-07 season. With Final Four apperances by men's tennis, men's soccer, and women's lacrosse, the list won't be an easy one to make. Who lands at No. 1?
  

In Case You Missed It ...

Sabre articles since the last SabreMail

Best Seat in the House: J.R. Reynolds
With the NBA Draft on the horizon, Virginia fans are anxiously waiting to see if a 5-year drought ends (the last Hoo drafted by the NBA was Roger Mason Jr. in 2002) with the selection of J.R. Reynolds. Most pundits project Reynolds as a second round pick or as a free agent candidate so the dry spell may not end this week. What does Reynolds think about his chances? About being a free agent? About his potential pro destination? Check out his interview with The Best Seat in the House to find out.

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